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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]

First, let me say that this is not a party political issue. There will be a free vote tonight, and many Labour Members share my views. In IVF treatment, the interests of the child must be paramount. IVF must not be about the potential parents; it must be about what is best for that child. I cannot see what harm is being done by saying to a lesbian couple or single woman who goes for IVF treatment, ““For the welfare of the child, can you consider the need for a father? If there is not a father, is there a potential father figure?”” Even having that discussion must do some good, and must make people think. I suspect that there has not been a problem—or no one has come forward and said there is a problem and they have been affected—because most lesbians and single women going for IVF treatment are responsible. They take the decision that they want to have children and they look at what that involves, including whether there is a father figure—albeit, perhaps, a grandparent or someone else in the wider family—who could be a positive male role model for the child.